Mother Snake
by Scarlet Grizzly
Summary: One-Shot! Eleven years after the end of the war, an old acquaintance comes to visit Pansy Parkinson.


CRACK

Pansy knew who it was even before the person knocked on her front door. She'd been expecting this since yesterday, after she'd seen her daughter wave goodbye from the window of the Hogwarts Express, as the scarlet train carried the young girl off to where it had all started.

Pansy was not at all surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing on her doorstep. The years had been kind to him. No longer was he the haggard, haunted youth he had been when she last saw him. Nor was there a hint of the arrogance and pride that had attracted her to him when they had first met. No, Draco stood tall and upright, but without haughtiness. A few lines on his brow and a handsome little goatee indicated the passing of eleven years, but he still looked like a young man.

Of course, Pansy betrayed none of this as she welcomed her onetime lover in. She'd been taught well, perhaps too well, not to betray emotion so easily. So she set about making a kettle of tea. At least, she tried to. Draco flicked his wand and the water was instantly brought to a boil, and the teapot and cups floated to Pansy's kitchen table unbidden.

She sighed and sat across from Draco. Clearly he was in a hurry.

"Why?" He spoke first. And in that one word, there was a volume of emotions. Anger. Hurt. Confusion. Betrayal. It is the natural tendency of those chosen by Salazar Slytherin to look deeper than the surface. Pansy knew very well what Draco was asking.

Why had she left all those years ago, turning her back on the Wizarding World? Why had she forsaken her heritage, her magic, to live among the Muggles? Why had she raised her daughter as one, pretending that magic was but a fiction? Why had she never told Draco about her child, their child? Why had she named Mary Sue, Malfoy?

"You know why." Pansy sipped her tea, again hiding the feelings raging inside her.

"I do not." Draco frowned. "I received an owl from Shafiq. His son wrote to him, telling him about a young girl who was Sorted int Slytherin last night, named Mary Sue _Malfoy_."

Pansy said nothing.

"I know she's my daughter, Pansy." Draco continued. "She's the right age, and we were quite... intimate before you left."

Pansy snorted. "If that's what you want to call it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to protect her." Pansy said simply.

"Protect her?" Draco looked aghast. "From what? She should have grown up in our world, Pansy! She would have been welcome at my hearth! Father and Mother would have adored her! I would have loved her!"

"And that is why." Pansy stared Draco in the eye. "How are your parents, Draco?"

"They're doing well." Draco looked back at Pansy evenly. "They're the same as ever."

"Exactly. Even after two wars, even after people like Granger and Potter proved that blood does not matter, they did not change."

"Is that why you left?"

"Our champion." Pansy spat bitterly. " _Voldemort._ Ever since we were young, we were taught that Muggles were violent and destructive, slaughtering each other like cattle. But his war proved that we, the enlightened and mighty pure of blood were no better." A distant memory flashed behind her eyes, of the Great Hall and three quarters of the assembled students turning to point their wands at her.

"I don't believe that anymore." Draco lowered his gaze.

"No. But your parents do." Pansy countered. "And no matter what you or I did, they would have poisoned her with the lies of blood purity."

"You want her to be better than us."

"I want my child to have a choice in what she believes. Perhaps she will come to believe in the old doctrine. Perhaps she will marry a werewolf. Whatever she does though, it will be her decision. She chose to go to Hogwarts, she can choose the rest of her fate."

Draco nodded slowly. "But why give her my name? Even after the war, your family still commands much respect."

Pansy laughed, her voice pealing like a loud bell and startling Draco. It had taken her several years to learn how to laugh like that, with no coy machinations or hidden motives, but with pure joy and amusement. "I didn't actually. To the Muggles, her name is Mary Sue Parkinson. Only Hogwarts knows her as your daughter."

"I want to meet her." Draco leaned forward. It was not a request, Pansy knew, but a demand. Draco was used to getting his way. Some things did not change.

"And you will." Pansy put her cup down. "But not today. When she is ready."

Draco nodded. "I look forward to it." Some things however, _did_ change.

"I hope Astoria won't mind." Pansy couldn't resist.

Draco, who had finally decided to drink his tea, choked and sputtered for about a minute. "Oh... you know about-"

"I do still keep tabs on the Wizarding World." Pansy smirked.

"I'm sorry." Draco sounded as though he really meant it.

"Don't be." Pansy said shortly. "After all that we went through, in those dark times, we wouldn't have worked out."

Draco nodded slowly, looking around the plain kitchen. "Are you happy, Pansy?"

"Yes." She replied without hesitation. "And no, I won't return."

Draco smiled sadly. "Well, it was worth a try." He stood, and took out his wand. "Thank you for the tea. It was nice to see you again, after all this time."

"Always." Pansy didn't quite know what possessed her to say that, but it seemed fitting.

Draco Malfoy turned and disappeared with a POP, leaving behind nothing but an empty teacup. Pansy carried the china to the sink, before heading to the spare bedroom. Out of habit, she looked around to make sure her daughter wasn't watching, before prying up a loose floorboard under the bed. Shifting aside old letters from her parents she had never answered, as well as a large ornate ring emblazoned with her family's crest, Pansy took out a familiar object.

"Hawthorne, with a dragon heartstring core. Ten inches." Pansy could remember as if it were just yesterday that the old wandmaker Ollivander had sold her this wand. As soon as her fingers closed around the smooth wood, emerald and silver sparks exploded from the tip, almost as if Pansy's wand was irritated at being left in a dark compartment for so long.

Standing upright, Pansy realized that she might not have been entirely truthful with Draco: she did miss magic, otherwise she'd have snapped her wand when she moved to Number Four, Privet Drive. Moving the wand in a practiced arc, Pansy closed her eyes and spoke, "Expecto Patronum."

When she opened her eyes again, she was not surprised to see that her Patronus was no longer the little silver pug it had once been, but an enormous bear. As the magic faded away, Pansy hid away the wand again, and headed downstairs to cook dinner.


End file.
